On the planting history and efficacy of leek (medicinal use of leek)

Leek leaves are slender, flat, sharp and dark green. The stem is drawn from the leaves, up to 50 cm long, with a terminal umb

On the planting history and efficacy of leek (medicinal use of leek)

Leek leaves are slender, flat, sharp and dark green. The stem is drawn from the leaves, up to 50 cm long, with a terminal umbel and small white flowers. It is cultivated all over the country.

Xu Shen said in Shuo Wen Jie Zi that Chinese chives are pictographs, like leaves emerging from the ground. Leek can be cut three or four times a year, and the roots are not hurt, so it is also called longevity leek. Leek is one of the ancient vegetables in China, which was recorded as early as the Book of Songs. The Book of Songs in July records that lambs and leeks are offered as sacrifices to ancestors. As the cloud says, on the fourth day, fleas were sacrificed to leeks. Since then, there have been many poems praising Chinese chives by scholars of all ages, such as "Cutting Chinese chives in the Night Rain" by Du Fu, a great poet in the Tang Dynasty, and Huang Liang in "New Kitchen". Su Shi, a poet in the Song Dynasty, was chilly in the east wind, and Huang Jiu in Artemisia annua tried to sing spring songs. The delicious part of leek is at the root, also called leek yellow. The Book of Rites says that leeks are abundant, and its beauty lies in its roots. It is said that Emperor Qianlong prefers to eat leek buds in cold months, so jiaozi, a leek, is listed as a delicacy in the imperial diet.

The Chinese chives were first recorded in Tao Hongjing's Bielu of Famous Doctors in the Southern Dynasties, which recorded: centering the heart, calming the five internal organs and removing stomach heat. Herbal addendum says: warming the middle warmer and lowering the qi, tonifying deficiency, harmonizing viscera and making people eat it, Yiyang. "Rihuazi Materia Medica" further pointed out that leeks can stop nocturnal emission and hematuria, warm the waist and knees, and have the effect of tonifying kidney and strengthening yang, so leeks are also called yang grass and yang grass. Zhu Danxi, a doctor in the Jin and Yuan Dynasties, also said that leeks were mainly caused by vomiting blood, nosebleeds, hematuria, retrograde female meridians, hiccups and choking. The fact that Chinese chives can moisten the intestines or eat gold, silver and copper in the abdomen in Herbal Medicine of Southern Yunnan, as well as the case of swallowing needles by mistake in medical records, just prove the correctness of this statement.